Aren't We All Children of God?
by Dani Jones
Summary: A moment from the human life of our favorite, sweet Marcus. What did he want more than anything in the world? Please read and review. Another spontaneous oneshot!


**A/N: All right guys, here we go! Another oneshot written for your enjoyment. Let me know what you all think. :) Here's our sweet Marcus.**

**I got this idea from his title, 'St. Marcus'.  
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**Also, here's the song I listened to that inspired this piece. I highly encourage you all to listen to it while you read. It sets the mood.**

** watch?v=c0VhQ5ZAjn4 (Kyrie for Magdalene) *curses FF's blocking abilities*  
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><p>The sound of the chants in the morning was enticing. Beautiful and captivating.<p>

_The sound of silence…_

Though I myself had not taken the vow of silence, I did prefer to refrain from speaking whenever I could. Perhaps that was because I disliked my voice—so gritty and deep—or maybe perhaps, I liked listening more than speaking.

But then again…I was clergy. Not a monk, not a friar, but a priest. Though I was not the Pope himself, I was respected, and my words were adhered.

I chose the simplistic life.

I enjoyed basking in the light of everlasting life that was given to me by my God and King. I lived to serve him, and only him.

As I readied myself in my minimally-decorated and bare chamber, I heard a knock on the thick wooden door.

"Come," I said softly, turning towards the door and dropping my hands away from the symbolic and ceremonial scarf I'd just draped over my shoulders. My companion, a brother in the order who had also sworn his life to his Lord from Greece, Brother Cieros, stood timidly in the doorway.

"It is time, your Grace," he said humbly, bowing his head out of respect. I smiled gracious and kindly down at my long-time friend. I put my hand on his shoulder as he raised his hand.

"Thou needn't bow thy head to me, old friend." I said, chuckling softly at the puzzlement flooding his chiseled face. "I was once what you are—a meek friar wishing to be a monk—and soon, thy will take my place a priest under the eyes of our ever-loving God and Father."

Brother Cieros looked shocked.

"What dost thou mean?"

My words were true. For several weeks now, I had been receiving the feeling that something…detrimental was about to occur. Though I didn't know what, I promised my Father above that I would endure it, and have faith; for I knew he would bless me in the end for my faith.

I merely shook my head. "Worry thou not, Brother. All shall be revealed. Come; it is time for prayer."

Brother Cieros nodded, stepped out of the way and bowed his head again as I walked past him. I smirked a bit at his persistence in treating me as a higher authority, and pressed my palms together as I readied my voice for the Latin chants required for prayer.

Brother Cieros also pressed his hands together and began to hum softly; the song of the Brethren.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, listening and absorbing the melancholy sounds around me of my fellow Brethren singing the prayers to our Father above.

I took long strides, the hallways completely memorized as I had walked them many times before to the cavernous chapel at the end of the stone corridor. Each step I took echoed through the corridor, even though I was wearing soft-soled slippers.

I knew the moment I entered the chapel; the sound around me seemed to expand. The deep voices of the chanters rose to such a higher intensity and feeling, I could not imagine that I was anywhere else.

I stepped up the three small stairs—memorized perfectly with my eyes still closed—and turned around behind the small pulpit that stood in the center of the raised grotto at the front of the chapel. Next to me were my Brethren, hands folding into the front of their robes, and soft expressions on each of their calm faces. I opened my eyes and parted my hands, stepping a step or two in front of the Brethren that continued to sing behind me.

_O quam glorifica Luce couscas, Stirpis Davidicae regia proles! Sblimis residens, Virgo Maria, Supra caeligenas aetheris omnes…_

With their final note, I raised my hands into the air, palms facing outward, as I began my section of the chant.

_Quem cunctus venerans orbis adorat, cui nunc rite genuflectitur omne; a quo Te, petimus, subveniente, abjectis tenebris, gaudia lucis…_

I finished my section, smiling softly at the warmth and joy that filled my heart as I sang of the angels above.

I lowered my hands to the cloth that rested atop the pulpit, feeling the roughness of it as I smiled genuinely at the ceiling above me, painted with frescoed angels, and depictions of the heavens.

The moment was perfect. Serene, quiet, holy…

The moment was shattered by the sound of a large _bang_ across the large cathedral. The gargantuan wooden doors to the outside world had opened, and slammed loudly against the stone walls. I watched in puzzlement as a sickly-looking woman clutched a bundle to her chest, stumbling into the hall.

I froze.

"Please-!" she wheezed, falling over her feet and using one of her bony arms to grab onto a pew as she almost fell down onto her knees. "Please!"

I ran around the pulpit, desperate to help this woman begging for aid. She fell forward once again, but this time, fell into my open arms as I had advanced enough to catch her. She sobbed raggedly, screeching softly on the sharp inhales that she took. I watched the woman, completely alarmed by her broken and disheveled appearance.

"What ails you, Sister?" I asked urgently, holding her shaking body in my arms.

"Please…" she moaned, lifting the bundle in her arms. I looked down, expecting to see a wrapped pile of laundry, or a basket of fruit, but instead, I looked down at the most beautiful, pure, and personally sought-after creature in the entire world.

A baby. An innocent child.

"Bless…my child…_please…_" she gasped, trembling and shaking against my body.

"Of course, my Sister." I said soothingly, touching the side of her face with my fingertips. She smiled exhaustedly, lifting the child higher to me. Brother Cieros came down from the stand and took the woman from me, whispering softly to her as I took the fragile child into my hands.

The baby—a little girl, I could see—was perfect.

A small, heart-shaped face with little puckered lips, and a serene expression that shone kindness and gentility in her soul. Her eyes opened and closed rapidly as she took in her new surroundings, and the new person that was leaning over her.

"What is her name?" I asked the woman calmly, looking at her.

To my alarm, she was limp in Brother Cieros' arms, breathing small, shallow breaths.

"A…An…Angeli…Angelique…" she hissed. _Of course; "Angelic one"._

The woman's eyes closed as she winced in what looked to be pain. My lips went slack as I watched this woman—one of God's children—suffer from something I could not see.

I hastened to bless the child while she was well enough to hear it.

I placed my fingers strategically and symbolically on the child's face; thumb on her chin, forefinger on her forehead, and other three fingers down her cheek on in a 'C' formation.

I closed my eyes.

"Our Father who art in heaven, bless this child with a long, and healthy life. Give her everything necessary for the greatest living. We love thee, and know that thy loves us. _In__nomine Dei__, amen."_

No sooner than I had finished, Brother Cieros called to me.

"Your Grace!"

His voice was full of urgency. I removed my eyes from the child, and looked at the woman. The front of her filthy and ragged dress was now stained with a large red circle down on her stomach.

_Blood._

I rushed over, keeping the baby safely tucked underneath my arm, and knelt next to the woman in Brother Cieros' arms. Her breathing sounded wet, as if she had a liquid in the back of her throat. She wheezed and choked as she opened her eyes and looked to me.

"Th….th…tha…thank you…" she breathed, "You are…an angel…sent for me…from God-!"

Her sentence was interrupted as she heaved suddenly, coughing madly and gagging on the liquid I could hear bubbling in her throat. Brother Cieros' face of horror mirrored mine.

She choked for a few moments more, her eyes shooting open and staring at the angels swirling above her head in the paint, lips falling apart slowly.

"Oh…" she panted, eyes growing more and more distant. Her hand that was clutching Brother Cieros' forearm loosened, and then fell to the cobblestoned floor.

At that moment, my Sister's spirit left this earth.

Angelique, the faultless child in my arms, began crying loudly at once; as if she could feel her mother's soul departing for the next world.

"Sister…?" Brother Cieros called gently, jostling her just a bit. I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Be at peace, Brother. Her spirit hath departed." I said, holding his shoulder tightly as a form of support.

Brother Cieros' face went back down to the woman, eyes full of shock and sorrow.

With my hand, I could feel his shoulders began to shrug as he began to weep for this mystery woman.

I, too, cried for the woman. And for her child, who was now alone.

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><p>"What are we to do?" Brother Cieros asked me, standing after the nuns from the neighboring convent had come to take the woman's body away for preparation and burial. The nuns had also come, and taken the infant from my arms. Achingly, I allowed them.<p>

Though I was not allowed to think lustful thoughts, or give my heart to a woman in everlasting marriage, I had always wished deep down in my lonely heart, that I could leave the parish I had committed myself to, and find the angel that was put here for me. I knew…that somewhere out there…was a woman looking for her companion. For a man who would love her unconditionally and always.

And maybe…when the heavens were ready…they would send us a little angel wrapped in a bundle. _A little baby_. For me to love, nurture, and spoil for their entire life.

I wanted nothing more.

Nothing more than to be _happy_.

But I had chosen this life, and I was grateful for this life. It had brought me closer to my Father, and proven to me that there is happiness in this world.

But…something told me that my time was coming.

Perhaps it would not be what I envisioned, but a change was coming.

"We are to carry on as we have before," I answered, reaching my hand up to grip his shoulder once again. Brother Cieros was visibly shaken from the event, and was having a difficult time coping with his emotions.

"She…she was an innocent…" he began, voice trembling as he trailed off.

"She is with our Father now; he will care for her." I said, reassuring him.

He nodded once, dipping his head down and shedding a single tear letting it run down the entirety of his face as the hall sat in an eerie silence.

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><p>And I was right.<p>

A change was coming.

But it was one that I had not even _fathomed_…one that would be the complete opposite of happiness.

And I was miserable in my new form.

Until I met my angel.

I looked up from my journal, reviewing the fateful happenings of that day, to see the very goddess I was wishing would come, standing in the doorway. She beamed and flitted into the room.

"Marcus," she sang, leaning down a bit, and hugging me tightly around my neck and shoulders, kissing my cheek.

I smiled against her lips, turning my head to give her a small peck as she pulled away. I stood to embrace her fully.

"My Didyme…"

She smiled up at me, wrapping her arms around my middle and resting her head against my chest.

"I've been missing you; I hoped that you were not too busy for me to pop in for a moment…"

I chuckled softly and smoothed her long black hair down her back. "I am never too busy to see my _angela_."

I closed my eyes and felt her arms around me. I listened to her steady breathing, and inhaled her sweet scent.

_I was happy._

_ For a moment._


End file.
